finding the positives

I choose fresh strawberries. I choose to get down on my knees and get dirty and pick my own because I love the smell, the taste of freshly picked strawberries.

I choose to cook with basic food and feed my family with food made with my hands. I take them strawberry picking so they know where food comes from.

I choose sandals. I choose not to put them on today so I can feel the earth under my feet, the sand between my toes.

I choose yoga pants and sports bras. I choose my son, to be with him, to get dirty with him and not worry about clean clothes.

I choose how to spend my time, sometimes I waste it playing games but I also choose to spend it learning, connecting, writing. Sometimes it looks the same but it’s not.

I choose to be a mother, a role model, a friend, a lover, a wife, and sometimes I fall and fail, others I’m trying to be too much at the same time and nobody is happy, even me, but I choose to be all these things as best I can and when I fall, when I fail, I choose to pick myself up and try again.

I choose to forgive others when they make mistakes. I forgive others easier than I forgive myself but I choose to keep working on it. I am a work-in-progress, ever-evolving, ever-learning, ever-changing.

I choose to find the positives even in the darkest storms. To believe in the good in people, even when things go wrong.

I choose to standup and take on the world in its imperfections and do what I can to make my corner a little happier.

I choose to live with less. I choose to be happy with less because when I count what really matters it’s a short list: family, us, you, me and the kids. I choose to be happy despite tough times because if it takes more stuff to be happy, I’ll never find happiness. So I choose less stuff and more connecting time. Less tv and more picnics at the beach. Less trinkets and more making memories. Less electronics and more watching the kids grow up. I choose more talking, more listening, more connecting. I already have everything I need for that.

I choose to believe, to believe in you, to believe in me, to believe in us, to believe there is something greater than both of us and strong enough to re-kindle what we have lost, to help us find each other in the mess of our lives.